My '70 karmann ghia project

[Glauco]

I bought a '70 karmann a while ago, what you could call a 20foot beauty, mostly standard, surtenly not in perfect condition, needs new floorpans, and some welding up here and there.
here are some pictures

[Glauco]

more photo's

[Glauco]

and some more...

[Glauco]

the last for now

[Glauco]

If everything stays the same, it will kind of look like this:
Buggy bumpers
turnsignals behind the nostrills
empi 8spokes (originals->still looking...) probibly goldisch or something color
bullet mirror
candy applle red color
twin quiet pack (if suited for big engines)
IDA-motor, not yet desided how big
Simca rallye seat
empistyle rearseats
gene berg shifter (old model)
narowed and lowerd front axle with disc brakes
porsche 356 grill in the rear deck lid with an oilcooler coming out (kind of like in the porsche in King of the mountain)
and some detailing that is not yet fully desided

to give an idea, here is something I put together using karmann selecta and paint:p

[speedwell]

remove the trim doors  more cal look 

[speedwell]

356 horn grill like salem ghia ??

[Glauco]

remove the trim doors  more cal look 

you ask, I serve :p

[Glauco]

356 horn grill like salem ghia ??

something like that yeah, I saw that karmann on EBI,
but mine hase to be able to open up because the cooling wil come under that gril, I'm not sure if both will be possible, but or the grill or the oilcooler wil kom there.., I'm going to try to go for both first

[wolfswest]

lookng good playboy!  keep El Salvatore workin' 
I don't know what you mean with candy apple red but I would not go for that color.  Maybe you can choose a porsche red color...

[nicolas]

the candy apple can work,look up dyno dons ghia. it is something similar. but like speedwell said leave the sidetrim off. take frenchy's ghia and go from there. 

[Glauco]

lookng good playboy!  keep El Salvatore workin' 
I don't know what you mean with candy apple red but I would not go for that color.  Maybe you can choose a porsche red color...

I'll get my bat and make sure that El Salvatore works his ass of  the color is open for option, I guess it will be a few months untill it is ready to go to paint, we'll discuss that over some beers one of these days/weeks

the candy apple can work,look up dyno dons ghia. it is something similar. but like speedwell said leave the sidetrim off. take frenchy's ghia and go from there. 

dyno dons ghia is cool indeed, I love that ghia! the sidetrim stays of, that's easier for me, now I don't have to search for them .

[wolfswest]

Glauco,

The candy apple red like you described it can work!  I've looked again with google pictures but most of the pictures that I see is with "bling bling" style, a more resto-cal color.  Again, the color that you want is nice.  So if you go to the guy that will paint your car choose from a colorcard and don't say: I want candy apple red....  you could get end up realy f*ck*d!      
I hope that the deal with the real empi's work out, it's a nice set for a nice price.  good luck.

Dem

[Glauco]

just got of the phone with a guy that had a fully restored chassis of a 1967 american karmann ghia, papers and everything, it realy is in mint condition, with front axle, and gearbox and everything else, a good rolling chassis, and he is just asking 850 euros, I think this is a real honest price, and if my calculations are correct, restoring my chassis will cost a little bit more, knowing it is actualy ready to go to the junkyard. I'm going to take a look somewhere this week, I hope it's as good as he tells me, and then I can see..

[wolfswest]

dude,

that seems like a real good deal to me if it is like you describe it.  Hook me up if you cruise to that chassis, got plenty of time to waste on cal-look chats on long cruises in the mk II    

[Glauco]

dude,

that seems like a real good deal to me if it is like you describe it.  Hook me up if you cruise to that chassis, got plenty of time to waste on cal-look chats on long cruises in the mk II    

I'll call you ass soon as I know whet I can take a look at it, it will be somewhere this week, I'll fire up the gti and we can chat like hell, it's a one hour drive   

[Neil Davies]

Buying a new pan seems like a good idea. I've done the same for my '70 Beetle as the original was so poorly repaired. You'll be into hundreds of Euros for each pan half, so it make sense to buy the restored one, especially as it comes as a roller. Just one thing to think about - is your Ghia IRS? My '71 KG was swing axle as it was a European car, but I don't know where your car came from originally. The '67 pan will be s/a too.

[Glauco]

Buying a new pan seems like a good idea. I've done the same for my '70 Beetle as the original was so poorly repaired. You'll be into hundreds of Euros for each pan half, so it make sense to buy the restored one, especially as it comes as a roller. Just one thing to think about - is your Ghia IRS? My '71 KG was swing axle as it was a European car, but I don't know where your car came from originally. The '67 pan will be s/a too.

to be honest, I'm not sure if my karmann is a european or a american, the previous owner claimed it was an original american, but as far as I know it only had american bumpers, it had an speedometer in kilometers, so I'm not 100% sure, but my karmann is swing axle for as far as I can tell.

[Neil Davies]

Buying a new pan seems like a good idea. I've done the same for my '70 Beetle as the original was so poorly repaired. You'll be into hundreds of Euros for each pan half, so it make sense to buy the restored one, especially as it comes as a roller. Just one thing to think about - is your Ghia IRS? My '71 KG was swing axle as it was a European car, but I don't know where your car came from originally. The '67 pan will be s/a too.

to be honest, I'm not sure if my karmann is a european or a american, the previous owner claimed it was an original american, but as far as I know it only had american bumpers, it had an speedometer in kilometers, so I'm not 100% sure, but my karmann is swing axle for as far as I can tell.

Sounds just like mine, that had US bumpers but kph speedo and amber rear indicators. The other giveaway is the rear reflectors - if they're round (like the bullet indicators) it's European, if they are rectangular and wrap around the sides so there is a side reflector then it's US.

[Glauco]

Buying a new pan seems like a good idea. I've done the same for my '70 Beetle as the original was so poorly repaired. You'll be into hundreds of Euros for each pan half, so it make sense to buy the restored one, especially as it comes as a roller. Just one thing to think about - is your Ghia IRS? My '71 KG was swing axle as it was a European car, but I don't know where your car came from originally. The '67 pan will be s/a too.

to be honest, I'm not sure if my karmann is a european or a american, the previous owner claimed it was an original american, but as far as I know it only had american bumpers, it had an speedometer in kilometers, so I'm not 100% sure, but my karmann is swing axle for as far as I can tell.

Sounds just like mine, that had US bumpers but kph speedo and amber rear indicators. The other giveaway is the rear reflectors - if they're round (like the bullet indicators) it's European, if they are rectangular and wrap around the sides so there is a side reflector then it's US.

great info, I didn't know that (that and a 1000+ other things I don't know about the car:p) but doesn't get me further, I don't have rear reflectors 

[Glauco]

I went to take a look at the chassis today, It was realy in mint condition, fully complete with gearbox, swingaxle, original shifter, puma front axle with disc brakes and everything, realy good shape, I'm going to get it next week or so, tomorrow I'm going to get my body and chassis seperated, seems there welded together, and not a few dots, around whole the body 
wish me luck!

[Neil Davies]

Good luck, mine was welded together in lots of places too! If the heater channels need replacing, don't bother with the available repair panels - just buy chunks of car from a californian import. I bought the right hand side of a californian car from Volksheaven in the UK, cut between the hinges at the front and just below the latch at the back, complete into the bulkheads. It was so much easier to fit all of that than it was to just replace the outer sill on the left hand side!

I've got some photos at home somewhere - I had posted one or two on the samba but I cant find them now!

[wolfswest]

good move to buy the chassis.  It realy looks clean, no rust, good diskbrakes, special gearboxmounts etc...   "dubbele webè wè" 

I also found the link of the site of the "3l man"    

[Glauco]

Good luck, mine was welded together in lots of places too! If the heater channels need replacing, don't bother with the available repair panels - just buy chunks of car from a californian import. I bought the right hand side of a californian car from Volksheaven in the UK, cut between the hinges at the front and just below the latch at the back, complete into the bulkheads. It was so much easier to fit all of that than it was to just replace the outer sill on the left hand side!

I've got some photos at home somewhere - I had posted one or two on the samba but I cant find them now!

for as far as I can tell for now the heater channels are filled with a foam, so my guess will be they are in very bad shape, I don't know If it will be that easy to find chunks of car, I'll see how bad they are when I get there, hopefully by the end of the day..

[Glauco]

A little update today, actually yesterday, I finisched cutting most of the welds, now it's just cutting away the last welds and the body will be loose.
just got in a little trouble do, when I jacked up my body the front came loose but the sidestep desided to stay on the chassis, great damage but damage that needed fixing anywy, so I'm still optimistic   
here's some photo's of the broken peace, the floor pannels and the first (and baddest) side of the car
ow yeah, the black marker lining is the places where my magnet wouldn't stick, so that will be fun too 

[Glauco]

the next pictures,
the other side and wath fell on the ground during cutting
last photo is to show you how far the body and chassis are divided for now..
just need some bars in the body to tighten it up before I take it completely of.

[wolfswest]

Glad to see you are still optimistic dude.  that's the spirit.
I would have trown the towell in the ring of walked into "the Atlantic" and screamed that everybody was gay, just to end my life...   
Haha, I will provide you every week with some pep-talk to keep focussed and optimistic.     

[Shubee2 (DSK)]

Looks Like You will be Getting some Pointers from Roy  as his Ghia was also  Rusty and Required lots of Metal Work But outside of looking for another Body there is really no turning back If you Love the Car Thats all that matters anything and everything can be Fixed if you have the Desire to do it. Keep us updated on your Ghia Project 

[Glauco]

for now I still believe it will turn out just great, I don't think there is no unrepareble damage, but we'll see how optimistic I'll be furderon in the restoration 

[Zach Gomulka]

Looks like you need to have a meeting with Grelland